Going Off Script
by QueenOfAces
Summary: Faced with the impending loss of their Always, Castle and Beckett search for a way to outwit the powers that be and create a future for themselves and their loved ones.
1. Paradise Lost

**Going Off Script**

Disclaimer: I clearly don't own Castle, but, right now, I wish that I did.

 **Chapter 1: Paradise Lost**

Katherine Beckett returned to bed, tears streaming down her cheeks as she gazed upon her husband. She thought about the first time they met-how she had come to seek the help of her favorite author only to be sorely disappointed by his seeming lack of character.

Still, that meeting had animated her life in a way that nothing had before. She had lived a full range of experiences before her fateful encounter with the man who would become the love of her life, but her happy childhood, her college dreams, her law enforcement career, and even her tragic loss were like faded photos in a police file. It was as if meeting him had lifted her from the page and made her a fully-formed human being.

She smiled through the tears at the thought. Castle really had changed her. Practical, driven Kate Beckett would have never have thought to ponder the nature of reality in such a way before meeting Richard Castle. She reached out to stroke his cheek, and he awakened at her touch.

"Kate?" he asked, his sleepy eyes widening as he registered her distress. "What's wrong?"

"They're separating us, Babe," she managed, the tears flowing harder. Despite her overwhelming sadness, she cringed a little bit at her use of the endearment. It had never quite seemed right when she said it, but she found she couldn't break the habit after all of these years, especially in times of high stress.

He sat up in bed to face her, his hands moving to gently wipe her tears away. "The Script? But we just got back together. What's the ridiculous excuse this time? Am I trying to protect you?"

She shook her head in anguish. "You don't understand. They're making me leave permanently."

"That can't be right, Kate. No matter what they have put us through, they promised us that we were 'Always'."

She marshaled her sarcasm through the tears. "The Script is apparently using a different definition of the word."

"They can't do this! I would have never have gone along with their crazy schemes if I hadn't trusted their promise to bring us back together."

She kissed him gently, pouring her love into the tender movement of her lips and hands. Pulling back, she rested her forehead against his, "We never had a choice, and you know it."

"Then we'll just have to be surreptitious again. Remember that first time after you were shot-how I used my special ninja skills to sneak into your hospital room and hold your hand after your 'boyfriend' left. You were in such pain, and I needed you to know that you were loved."

She smiled at the memory. "Yes, and I wrote you from the cabin so that you wouldn't be worried. I wasn't ready for us yet, but I loved you too much to hurt you like they wanted me to."

He kissed her once more. "I know it will be hard, but we can get through this. No matter what they force us to say or do, we will find each other through the maze of the pages and make it right between us. Partners in crime and in life."

Her face crumpled. "That's just it. I won't be _in_ the pages. The Script is getting rid of me altogether."

"Have they lost their minds! Our stories are intertwined—writer and muse; husband and wife. It's not possible to have one without the other."

"Castle, I know the creator made promises, but he's gone now. Let's just make the best of the time we have left."

"I can't lose you, Kate! We've faced difficult situations before—guns, bombs, knives, freezers, serial killers, power-crazed Senators, our own stubbornness—and we've always made it through. This time is not going to be any different."

"The game was rigged, Castle! We survived those things because the Script wanted us to do so. Now they want me out of the way, and there is nothing we can do about it."

He hugged her fiercely, his face wet with tears. "I won't let you go, Kate! I can't live without you."

Kate held him away from her and lifted his chin so that she could look in his eyes. "You listen to me, Richard Castle. I'm not going to let you do to Alexis what my father did to me after he lost my mother. Our love is not going to break you—it is going to strengthen you. You have so much to offer this world, and our friends and family are going to need you to be strong."

"I don't know if I can," he managed brokenly.

She kissed him then, pouring all of her emotions into the caress. "You are the best thing that ever happened to me, Rick, and that will never change no matter what the Script does. When it all gets too much, I want you to read that beautiful love story you created for us and remember how deeply you were cherished."

He pressed his lips hungrily to hers, pulling the sleep shirt from her body. "I love you, Katherine Beckett."

"And I love you, Richard Castle-always," she replied, sliding her hands underneath the t-shirt that they always seemed to have him wearing to bed.

They made love for what they feared might be the last time, stealing the right of free will in the vague outlines of the Script which had controlled their lives for so long. The powers that be could not see them in the shadows, and thus did not know that their creations had far more strength than they could have ever imagined.


	2. The Story of Our Lives

Author's Note: Thanks to all of those who have taken the time to review. So many of us have been frustrated by this week's news, and I greatly appreciate those who are willing to take this ride with me. This chapter took on a life of its own, so I did not finish the fic as I had anticipated. The last part of the story will probably not be up until next weekend.

 **Chapter 2: The Story of Our Lives**

After making love with her husband, Beckett rested her head upon his chest and took comfort in the familiar pounding of his heart.

"That was amazing," he gushed, unwilling to let her go as he stroked her gently.

"Definitely one of our best," she agreed, lifting her head to kiss him.

"If we were basing it on the Script, we would only have maybe five other times to compare it to. They rarely ever let us sleep together," he complained sourly.

"Or they would tease us with the promise of more and then interrupt us before we could finish."

Castle groaned in response. "Damn that phone of yours."

"And Ryan!" Kate gave him a wicked smile and ran her nails lightly across his chest. "Fortunately, I learned from my husband that there are advantages to not going by the book (or the Script in this case). I wish I would have figured that out earlier."

"Why?" he laughed. "Would you have acted on your feelings for me after that first case?"

"You were an ass, Castle. The Script had that right, at least."

He grinned and ran his fingers through her hair. "I was pulling your pigtails, Beckett."

"And I secretly loved it—your maddening theories, your crazy antics, your unwillingness to let me be so serious all the time..." She paused momentarily. "I don't know if I ever thanked you for bringing joy back into my life."

"And I never thanked you for seeing through the celebrity persona and giving me a chance to make a real difference."

"It took awhile, but your daily gift of coffee finally wore me down."

"I didn't even consciously realize that I was trying to win your heart until your apartment blew up and I thought I'd lost you."

"And you had my heart long before I noticed it was missing. When you said you were leaving after that fake spy case, I was devastated."

He kissed her tenderly, his sorrow etched upon his face. "What am I going to do without you, Kate?"

"You are going to continue to be the generous, kind-hearted, brilliant and funny man I fell in love with, and you are going to use your gifts to solve crimes and craft wonderful stories."

"I wish I could use those talents to write us a long and happy future."

"What would you write if you could?" she asked softly.

"For starters, I would find a way to keep us working as partners. I've missed you so much this year."

"I have, too. We have always been at our best when we were working together. Even when you were annoying me all those years ago, I recognized that, and now with this new job...," she trailed off.

"You will always have my support, but you haven't seemed happy being Captain."

"I've done a poor job at it. The LokSat case has taken most of my attention, and I've spent the rest of the time pushing papers or making up reasons to go out into the field so that I can do what I love. Worst of all, it gave me a good excuse to push you away when I needed you the most."

"You knew the reality of the job. Why did you pursue it?"

"I felt compelled to do it, probably because of the Script, but I also thought...well, never mind."

"Thought what?" he urged her gently.

Tears filled her eyes once more. "I was ready to try for a baby."

"Oh, Kate," he murmured, gathering her tightly in his arms and dropping kisses upon her hair.

"You know how I told you that I didn't like babies...it wasn't the truth."

He nodded. "That one surprised me. I remember how comfortable you were with the little girl who was kidnapped by her mother. You were such a natural, and I can't tell you what it did to my heart to see you with Cosmo. Why did you lie?"

"I felt compelled to say it somehow. The truth is that I have a dangerous job, and I didn't want my child to have to live without her mother. I had convinced myself that I was better off without children, but someone I know gradually made me believe in the possibilities. I thought if I could find a safer way to pursue justice, we could have a family."

"We have a family, Kate, and I don't regret a moment of our lives together," he reassured her.

"I know you wanted a baby, Rick, and I'm sorry I was so scared."

"Kate, shh...it was an experience I wanted us to have together when you were ready. Don't cry."

She let him comfort her as they mourned what might have been. "Tell me the story, Rick."

"I don't know if I can, Kate."

She stroked his cheek. "Your stories have always given me hope, even before we met. Tell me about our family."

"I'll do my best."

She smiled and nodded for him to continue.

"We brought LokSat to justice and ended the threat to our family once and for all. Our baby was conceived in the celebrations that followed or maybe in that cross country motorcycle trip we took."

"So you really couldn't handle seeing me in tight leather pants."

"Nope, I had to take them off right away. You didn't seem to mind."

She laughed.

"Now quit interrupting. I have a story to tell. You had suspected that you might be pregnant for a few days, but you didn't want to tell me until you were sure. At your doctor's appointment, you thought of ways you could surprise me with the news."

"A fake book cover placed on your desk so that you could see it when we came home."

His eyes widened, and he kissed her. "You really have been thinking of this. Yes, a book title with the name...um...Heat Rash, no...Heat Babe, um..."

"I was thinking 'The Rooki' with a picture of baby Alexis on the cover so that you would understand."

His face lit up. "Co-authored, of course."

She nodded.

"It's perfect, Beckett!"

"So you like the idea?" she asked self-consciously.

"I love it! I would have swept you in my arms, regaled you with all of my plans for the future, and taken you to bed to celebrate. The next day, we would have met with Alexis and told her the news. She would have still been a bit wary, but you would have done your best to make sure that she felt included and loved."

Kate nodded.

"We'd have made plans to go shopping together, and Alexis would have helped us figure out the best way to tell our family and friends."

"Dad would have been so happy. He's been hinting for awhile now."

Castle nodded. "Everyone would have been thrilled for us, and, instead of a shower, Lanie would have thrown you a book launch party for our little Rooki."

"We aren't calling him that."

"You started it, Beckett!"

She stuck out her tongue at him.

"Very mature. I think I've been a bad influence on you."

"You have. Now quit goofing around and tell me about our baby."

"Yes, ma'am! We debated about whether we wanted to know the gender of the baby before our child was born, but you knew that I couldn't hold out that long. As we viewed the at the ultrasound monitor in anticipation, I squeezed your hand and wished for another little girl. I knew that I would love our child regardless, but I wanted you to have the same experience that your mother had with you. I could just see you with this beautiful little girl who looked just like you, but who also inherited this impish streak from her father."

"Castle," she managed, blinking back the tears.

"The doctor pointed to this amazing image on the screen and told us that we were the proud parents of a healthy baby boy. We both cried for joy, and the pictures of our little Rooki were passed out to all of our friends and displayed prominently on our refrigerator. Over the next few months, we read every parenting book, prepared the nursery, attended birthing classes and bickered over names. I purposely baited you with monikers from the Sci-Fi name generator online just to see that look of disgust you used so much when we first met."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"That's the one! You were nervous about the birth and frustrated with your changing body at times, but I made it my mission to prove to you how beautiful you were to me every day."

She could imagine all the ways he would have accomplished that goal, and she reached up to kiss him deeply.

He lost himself in her embrace, savoring the feel of his wife in his arms. He wanted to paint the entire picture for her in painstaking detail, but he knew they were running out of time. He needed to give her this one last gift, so he reluctantly dragged his lips from hers and focused on granting her request.

"When the day finally arrived, you were at the precinct finishing up some paperwork, and I was at home writing. When I got a call from Lanie, I rushed over to the 12th. Espo and Ryan met me in the hallway with their good wishes, and Lanie told me to go knock some good sense into you if that were possible. When I entered your office, I found you calmly sitting at your desk finishing your work. I asked you if you were ready to go, and you gave me this beautiful smile. You told me that the contractions weren't that bad and that you would not be one of those new mothers who bothered the doctor with every little pain. They were probably Braxton-Hicks anyway, you reasoned."

"Sounds like me," Kate interjected.

"It was at that moment that you were seized with a major contraction, and your water broke. I took you in my arms and tried to hustle you to the car, but you didn't want to leave a mess for the new Captain. After our friends promised to take care of it for you, I sped to the hospital using your police lights."

"You always wanted to do that," she smiled.

"It was a long and painful process, but you stayed so strong for our baby. I was silently terrified that your old gunshot wound would cause you problems, but you picked up on it somehow and reassured me over and over. I can still remember that amazing moment when our little boy entered the world crying out with conviction. I helped the doctor cut the cord, and then I watched with awe as they checked him over and finally placed him in your arms. I could see that rush of love in your eyes, and all I could think about was how lucky I was that the creator brought us together."

Tears flowing freely once more, she lamented, "I want so much for these beautiful words to be the truth."

"Words? The truth?" he asked, his face supporting that ah-ha expression that she had seen many times before. "Maybe they can be. I have an idea!"


End file.
